Stoddard Imported Cars, Inc. (SIC) was founded in June 1957 by Charles A. (Chuck) Stoddard, an automotive engineer (MIT '52) with Thompson Products (now TRW).
Initially, it was located in a stillborn Tucker dealership building, and was known as a "fix anything foreign" car-repair and used-car dealer. Chuck believed that the heart of the business must be its Service Department, with a dedicated in-house Body Shop. In those days, the generally prevalent insecurity of purchasing an imported car did not exist in Willoughby; any car purchased there could be repaired there. Originally, it fulfilled the City of Willoughby requirement of permitting only new car dealers, by becoming franchised for the BMW Isetta.
This was a humble start. However, a few months later brought the addition of the British Motor Corporation family (MG Magnette, Midget & Sprite, Austin, Austin Healey, Morris, Mini, Riley), plus Alfa Romeo, Porsche and Lancia from the legendary importer Max Hoffman in New York. Later, during the imported car boom, and by the early 1960's, other franchises were added including Jaguar, Fiat, Mercedes Benz, Ferrari, Volvo, Facel Vega, Toyota, Sunbeam Alpine & Imp, Elva, Abarth, Morgan, Berkley, Yamaha, and Vespa, for a total of about 30 nameplates over the years (including Chrysler-Plymouth for one year!)